UPDATED with Senate passage, 4:01 PM: The Senate passed a bill to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year and avoid a shutdown. The Republican-written bill passed 54-46, with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and independent Angus King voting with Republicans for it. Republican Rand Paul was the sole GOP vote against it.
The process has exposed a major fissure between Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other members and activists irate that the party isn’t doing more to try to stop Donald Trump.
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The initial vote to proceed was 62-38, triggering a process that led to passage of the funding bill late today and avoid a shutdown. Lawmakers had a deadline of midnight on Saturday.
Schumer angered many Democrats when he announced on Thursday that he would vote to proceed with the legislation, and he reiterated his position on the floor this afternoon. He said that although the funding legislation was a bad bill, blocking it would risk a shutdown that could accelerate Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts of wide swaths of the federal government. Nine other Democrats joined with him, helping Republicans reach the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster.
“The shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said, referring to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, state and country, and that it a far worse alternative.”
Schumer’s position triggered calls online for a change in party leadership, while House Democratic leaders made a point of holding a press conference this afternoon to warn of the funding bill and its cuts to veterans and health care. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to answer as to whether he still had confidence in Schumer’s leadership.
A number of activists say that Democrats squandered an opportunity to use what little leverage they have, given Republican majorities in both chambers, to block Trump and Musk.
The House passed the bill earlier this week, largely on party lines, and the unity on the GOP side may have caught Democratic leaders off guard. Had the bill failed, it likely would have forced Republicans to negotiate with Democrats.
A major concern over the legislation was that it would ultimately force massive, $1 billion or more cuts to the Washington, D.C. budget over the next six months. Schumer said that the Senate would vote later today on legislation to try to resolve that funding situation.
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